This blog on Texas education contains posts on accountability, testing, college readiness, dropouts, bilingual education, immigration, school finance, race, class, and gender issues with additional focus at the national level.

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Thursday, June 09, 2005

This is really amazing—"Nearly one of every three people in Texas is Hispanic," according to the 2000 census bureau. While a democraphic challenge, indeed, I like to think of this as an opportunity. -Angela

Group accounted for half of overall population growth between July 2003 and July 2004, Census reportsASSOCIATED PRESSThursday, June 9, 2005

WASHINGTON -- One of every seven people in the United States is Hispanic, a record number that probably will keep rising because of immigration and a birth rate outstripping non-Hispanic blacks and whites.

The country's largest minority group accounted for half of the overall population growth of 2.9 million from July 2003 to July 2004, according to a Census Bureau report being released today.

The agency estimated that there are 41.3 million Hispanics in the United States. That number is intended to include both legal and other residents.

Nearly one of every three people in Texas is Hispanic, according to 2000 Census data, the latest numbers available.

Nationally, the population growth for Asians ran a close second. Increases in both groups are due largely to immigration but also higher birth rates, said Lewis Goodman, an American University expert on U.S.-Latin American relations.

"If we didn't have those elements, we would be moving into a situation like Japan and Europe . . . where the populations are graying in a way that is very alarming and endangering their productivity and endangering even their Social Security systems," he said.

A far greater percentage of whites than Hispanics is 65 or older; the opposite is true of those younger than 18.

The Hispanic growth rate for the 12 months starting July 2003 was 3.6 percent, compared with the overall population growth of 1 percent.

The Census Bureau counts "Hispanic" or "Latino" as an ethnicity rather than a race, so Hispanics can be of any race. The population of non-Hispanic whites indicating no other race increased just 0.3 percent in the past year, to 197.8 million.